Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier

Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier

Wine Description

The Shiraz Viognier is the flagship wine, a careful selection of the best of the Shiraz Viognier parcels we craft each year from the Murrumbateman vineyard.

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Acclaim
“I've been chipping away at a bottle of this 2021 Shiraz Viognier all week of a nighttime, and a very interesting and impressive trend has emerged. Despite the wine in the glass being delicate, pristine and almost a little nervous (a product of the cool La Niña year that was responsible for over 1,000 millimeters of rain, when the average is only 630 millimeters), over the course of a couple of days at first, it opened up beautifully, the major impact being on the texture, which has silked right out and has brought all components of the wine into harmony. Onto day three and four, the wine has started to indicate little hints of the exotic spice, cocoa nib and roasted meat rind that it picks up in old age, yet it has not fallen to the ravages of oxygen. This evolution tells me everything I need and want to know about its quality and ageability. So, what's it like? It has notes of rose petals, raspberry leaf tea, brine, licorice root, redcurrant, tobacco leaf and even a hint of orange rind/bergamot. The palate is shaped by very fine tannins that cascade across the mouth, leaving a trail of cocoa nib, clove bud and again with the orange zest/bergamot suggestion. Such a beautiful wine in youth, it's no wonder much of it won't make its first birthday! As seems to be the ongoing trend, this has 6% Viognier inclusion and is lighter in alcohol this year, at 13.2%. Highly collectable.”
— Wine Advocate, Nov 2022
“Fantastic aromas of dark berry, thyme, white pepper, and lavender. Medium-bodied with firm and silky tannins that are fine textured, long and persistent that run the length of the wine. Energetic and focused. Drinkable but better in two or three years to take the edge off it.”
— James Suckling, Oct 2022
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Vineyard & Production Info
Production area/appellation:
Canberra
Bottles produced of this wine:
27,000
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Winemaking & Aging
Maceration length:
3 weeks
Varietal composition:
94% Shiraz, 6% Viognier
Fermentation container:
Variety of Stainless Steel Tanks
Malolactic fermentation:
Full
Fining agent:
None
Type of aging container:
Barriques and Puncheons
Type of oak:
Fine-Grained French
Length of aging before bottling:
12 Months
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Analytical Data
pH level:
3.66
Acidity:
5.5 g/L
Alcohol:
13.5 %
Residual sugar:
0.4 g/L
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Wine Production

A hail storm on January 9 gave us plenty to worry about, reducing what was already a small crop. Mercifully, the vines recovered well. A brilliant ripening season followed, marked by a run of gorgeous weather in the crucial late Summer/early Autumn.